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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. A. LANGPORD, DOOR mmenon.

No. 590,418 Patented Sept. 21,1897

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(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. A. LANGFORD. DOOR INDICATOR.

No. 590,418. Patented Sept 21,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST A. LANGFORD, OF IVASHINGTON, CALIFORNIA.

DOOR-INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,418, datedSeptember 21, 1897. V

Application filed April 2, 1897. Serial No. 630,448. No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST A. LANGFORD, a citizen of the United States,residing at \Vashington, county of Nevada, State of California, haveinvented an Improvement in Automatic Door-Plate Indicators; and I herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of thesame.

My invention relates to a device which 1 term an automatic door-plateindicator. It is especially designed for attachment to doors of rooms orother places to indicate whether the same are occupied or unoccupied,and is designed to be moved to thus indicate the condition of the roomby the movement of the door-knob and an intermediate mechanism betweenthe lock and the indicator.

It consists in certain details of construction which will be more fullyexplained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is an outside view of a door, showing the indicator and the keeper onthe easing. Fig. 2 is a view from opposite side. Fig. 3 is a view ofinterior of lock-casing. Fig. 4 is a perspective of indicator andconnected parts. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of door and lock. Fig. 6is a section through the indicator. Figs. 7, 8, 0,10, and 11 are detailviews of parts of the mechanism.

My indicatorin the present construction is shown in the form of acylinder or segment A, the ends of which are journaled upon a plate 13.This plate is cut away, as shown at C, so that the side of the cylinderor segment turning within the cut-away portion may show either of twowords, Occupied or Unoccupied, or words of similar import. The end ofone of thejournals projecting beyond the box may be flattened at rightangles, as shown at D, and E is aspring-pressed pin or stop movableradially and at right angles with the journal, so that'when the segmentor cylinder is turned to expose one of the lettered sides the pin willrest against the flattened portion and prevent further rotation. lVhenit is turned to expose the other side, the pin will be caused to recedeby the passage of the angle beneath it and will again against the otherflattened side, thus serving to hold the segment in either positionwitha light pressure. The. segment has at the opposite end two lugs orprojections a, which are adapted to be engaged by an arm or pin F, whichis actuated by attachments within the look, so as to turn the segment toeither one or the other of the positions previously described. This armis fixed upon a shaft G, and this shaft has a projecting arm G, whichengages a groove or channel h in the slidable bar H. This bar II isactuated bya pressureplate or end I, which projects through the edge ofthe lock-casing J, so that its end will press against the strike-plateor keeper when the door is closed from the inside, and will thus forceit and the slide H backward. \Vhen this action takes place, the slide H,acting through the arm G, which engages it, will turn the shaft G andwith it the projecting pin or lever F, so as to turn the segment to theposition showing the side which indicates that the room is occupied,

and as soon as the slide H has been thus pushed back a notch 17. isengaged by a latch N on a spring-pressed plate N, which holds it untilreleased.

The knob upon the inside of the door has its spindle fitted to turnindependently with relation to the knob which is outside the door,either one of the spindles being bored out, so that the other may turnwithin. it.

The outer spindle K has fixed upon it the cam L, which is adapted toengage the lugs upon the part M, which connects with the latch, wherebythe door is held when closed, and this outer knob may be turned and thedoor opened without affecting the indicator, and the door may also beclosed from the outside without altering its position, because when theslide II has been forced back as described it is latched by engagementwith the turn the indicator-plate to position to show that the room isunoccupied. Thismechanism may be actuated in various ways. In thepresent case I have shown the following construction: The spindle of theouter knob is turnable, as previously described, independently of thatof the inner knob and has the usual cams or lugs by which thelatching-bolt 0 may be withdrawn. In the present case I have shown onewell-known form for actuating this device, and it will be manifest thatany of the'forms in common use may be employed, the latch beingretracted by turning the knob and being again forced out when the knobis released by the action of aspring O.

The locking-bolt is not shown in the present drawings. The sliding bar His in the present case shown as lying just above the latchbolt 0.

The sliding bar H is made hollow for a part of its length, and the stemof the pressure latch or plate I extends into the end of the bar II, asshown.

'Within the bar 11 is f ulcrumed a lever P, the end adjacent to the pin1 forming a stop against which the end of the pin abuts when the leverPis in its normal position, in which position it is held by a spring Q.The opposite end of the lever P is upturned and projects through a slotor channel in the bar H and has an arm P bent at right angles with theupturned portion.

R is a plate hinged as shown at S, having a hole made through it throughwhich the spindle K of the outside knob projects. The outside knob andits spindle turn independently of the inside knob and its spindle andonly act upon the latch O to open or close the door, while the spindleof the inside knob will when turned retract the latch O to open the doorand will also actuate the indicator mechanism. Thus when the outsideknob is pulled or turned it will move the latch O and allow the door toopen. The lug or cam T will also act upon the plate R, and thus lift theangular projection P of the lever P, and will turn this lever about itspivot-point and depress the opposite end against the tension of thespring Q until the stem I is allowed to slide past this lug orprojection without acting upon the slide H. This allows thepressure-plate I to move out when clear of the strike-plate and to bepressed in again when the door is closed without moving the slide H.

hen the outside knob is released, the spring Q presses the lever Pup andbrings the lug P into the path of the stem I, and when the door isclosed from the inside the plate I will be forced back by contact withthe strikeplate, and its stem 1, engaging the lug P will force the slideH back until the notch 72 engages the lug N on the plate N, and thisholds the slide in its retracted position. The action of the notch hupon the arm G and the arm F turns the indicator to show that the roomis then occupied.

The lug N 011 the plate N is normally held in engagement with the notch'n of the bar II, when the latter is withdrawn by the action of a smallspring n situated beneath or behind the spring-plate N.

The turning of the inner-knob spindle K acts upon a cam T, which ismovable so as to depress. the plate N and thus disengage the lug N fromthe notch 01 of the bar H, thus allowing the latter to again moveforward and turn the indicator to the position of Unoccupied. Theclosing of the door from the outside again acts through the plate R andlever P to disengage the latter'from the stem 1 and thus allow it andthe plate I to be pressed back when the door is closed without movingthe slide H or changing the position of the indicator. \Vhile thispressure-plate I is in contact with the face of the strike-plate, whichoccurs whenever the door is closed, it will be manifest that it will bepushed back, and when the inner end I engages with the stop 1 it willalso push the bar H back until it is latched, as previously described,by the catch N of the spring-plate N engaging the notch n of the bar Il. W'hen in this position, the lever F will have been turned by thepressure of the bar H upon the lever-arm G, and through its action uponthe lugs a of the indicator A it will turn the latter so as to exposethe word Occupied, and as long as the bar H remains latched in thisposition this word will be shown.

If the door he opened from the outside by turning the outside knob,which, as before described, moves independently of the inside one, theaction of the spring V upon the pressure-plate I will force the latterout as soon as it is clear of the strike-plate, but this operation willnot disengage the bar H from the spring-plate N, and in the same mannerthe closing of the door will simply slide the shank I of the plate Iback into the bar H without further action. The turning of the innerknob, however, will turn the shaft K, and thus acting through the cam Twill depress the spring-plate N and disengage the lug N from the notch nof the bar H, which will allow the bar H to slide forward. 'When thedoor is then pulled open, the bar H slides forward, actuated, as beforestated, by the spring U.

The sliding forward of the bar H when the door is opened acts throughthe arm G and lever-arm F, as previously described, to turn theindicator A into the position to show the word Unoccupi'ed, and when thedoor is closed from the outside the indicator remains in that position.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isv v 1. A door-plate indicator movable toexpose words of opposite meaning, a mechanism connected with the'lockand actuated by the opening and closing of the door to change theposition of the indicator.

2. A door-plate indicator having words of opposite meaning upon it, aplate through which either one or the other of said words may be exposedto View from the outside, a lever-arm by which said plate is movable,and mechanism connecting the interior knob of ICO the door with thelever-arm whereby the opening or closing of the door from the insideactuates the indicator.

An indicator having words of opposite meaning imprinted upon it atdifferent points, an opening in the door through which either one or theother of said words may be exposed, a lever-arm engaging the indicator,a mechanism connected with the interior knob-shank whereby the indicatoris actuated when the door is closed from the inside to show that theroom is occupied, and is again actuated when the door is opened andclosed from the outside to show that it is unoccupied and a knob on theexterior of the door whereby the door may be opened and closed withoutchanging the condition of the indicator.

4. An indicator having words of opposite meaning imprinted upon it, anopening in the door through which either one or the other of said wordsmay be exposed at one time, a lever connected with the lock mechanismand actuated by the turning of the inside knob of the door, so that whenthe door is closed from the inside, the word Occupied is exposed, andwhen the person leaves the room and closes the door from the outside,the word Unoccupied will be exposed, and a springpressed pin pressingupon the movable indicator so as to hold it in either of the positionsto which it may be set.

5. An indicator consisting of a cylindrical segment journaled upon aplate attached to the door and having an opening through which thesurface of the cylinder is exposed, words of different meaning imprintedupon the cylinder in parallel lines so that the turning of the cylinderwill expose one of said words and conceal the other, lugs connected withthe cylinder and engaging a lever-arm connected with a spindle turnablewithin the lock of the door, a slidable bar actuated by the closing ofthe door, a connection with the spindle whereby the forcing of the barback when the door is closed from the inside, turns the leverarm and theindicator to show that the room is occupied.

6. An indicator consisting of a cylindrical segment journaled upon aplate having a slotthrough which the surface of the cylinder isexposed,words of opposite meaningimprinted in parallel lines upon thecylinder so that one may be exposed and the other concealed, a leverfixed upon a shaft journaled within the lock-casing and engaging lugsupon the segment so that the moving of the lever in one direction willrotate the segment and expose one of the words, and the movement in theopposite direction will turn the segment to expose the other word, a barslidable within the lock -casing, having a pressureplate adapted toengage the strike-plate of the door when closed whereby the bar isforced backward, an arm connecting said bar with the shaft of the leverby which the indicator is actuated and a latch adapted to hold the barin its retracted position as long as the room is occupied.

7. The combination with a cylindrical segment journaled upon the doorhaving words of opposite meaning imprinted in parallel lines thereon,and a slotted plate through which either of said words may be exposed,of a lever engaging said plate so as to turn it to expose either of saidwords, a bar slidable within the lock-casing having an engagement bywhich the lever is moved, a pressure-plate normally projecting throughthe side of the casing and slidable so as to be forced back by thecontact of thepressure-plate with the strike-plate of the door-casing,said pressureplate acting upon the sliding bar to force it back, aspring-catch adapted to engage said bar when thus forced back and retainit in said position whereby the indicator remains with a word exposed, aknob exterior to the door whereby the latter maybe opened from theoutside, a lug or cam upon the exteriorknob spindle, a lever fnlcrumedin the sliding bar and engaged by a plate intermediate between saidlever and the cam, whereby the pressure-plate is disengaged from theslide when the door is opened from the outside, and is then movable whenthe door is opened or closed without acting upon the sliding bar orindicator.

8. The combination with a door of a bar slidable within the lock-casing,an arm engaging said bar adapted to actuate a cylindrical segment, thesurface of which is exposed through an opening in the door with words ofopposite meaning imprinted thereon whereby one of said words may beexposed when the bar is retracted and the other when it is pressedforward, a presser-plate having a shank entering the end of the slidablebar, a stop-lever fulcrumed within the bar against which the shank ofthe presser-plate abuts whereby the closing of the door so that thepresser-plate is forced back by the strikeplate upon the door-casingwill force the sliding bar backwardly, a spring-latch by which it isengaged and normally retained in this position while the door is closedand the room remains occupied, a cam fixed upon the innerknob spindleand engaging the latching-plate so that when the knob is turned and thedoor opened, the sliding bar is disengaged, and a spring by which it isforced forward when the door is opened to change the position of theindicator-plate andshow that the room is unoccupied.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ERNEST A. LANGFORD. \Vitnesses:

S. H. NoURsE, H. F. ASCHECK.

